Police arrested a man Monday they say threatened to kill a witness in a Springdale motel shooting and battery that left one man in the hospital.
Johnny Vital, 23, of Springdale, faces charges of intimidating a witness, violating a protection order, felony first-degree battery and felony residential burglary. He remained in the Washington County Detention Center on Thursday awaiting a bond hearing.
Police said Vital and Julio Coronado broke into the alleged victim’s hotel room at the Royal Inn in Springdale on Oct. 19, complaining that the man owned them drug money. The alleged victim told police Vital and Coronado threatened him with semi-automatic pistols before kicking him several times and shooting the room’s TV.
The man later went to Mercy Hospital in Rogers, where he was treated and released. Police arrested Coronado on Oct. 24, but Vital was still at-large. Coronado faces charges of aggravated residential burglary, first-degree battery and criminal mischief.
Vital later approached the alleged victim Oct. 31 and said he could “make or break” his future, according to a preliminary report from the Washington County Prosecutor’s Office. Vital offered the man money to not testify against him and Vital, and threatened to kill the man if he did not agree, the man told police.
